Venice International Film Festival marks return of cultural events in Europe

Venice, Italy is reclaiming its place as a top cultural center this week with the opening of the Venice Film Festival, VOA News reports.

It is the first major in-person film event since the start of the coronavirus health crisis. The Cannes Film Festival in France was canceled, and other international festivals chose to go mostly online this year.

The Venice Film Festival is the world’s oldest film festival. It has been held 76 other times. The festival will have a new look when it opens Wednesday. The public will be banned from the red-carpet area near the main entrance. Hollywood movie stars and films are largely missing from the festival. And attendees are required to wear face masks while inside buildings.

Those rules are like those Venice and the Veneto area took to contain the coronavirus when it first arrived in late February. Veneto largely kept the virus under control with early stay-at-home orders and a lot of testing once the virus was widespread.

La Biennale chief Robert Cicutto said the decision to hold the film festival in-person was an important sign of rebirth for Venice and the film industry. He said the experience on the Lido will serve as a “laboratory” for future cultural gatherings.

“It will be an experiment on the ground,” he said, when announcing the films to be shown.

The September 2nd through 12thfestival marks Italy’s return to the center of the art world after it became the first country in the West to be hit by COVID. At that time, “Mission: Impossible 7,” starring Tom Cruise, was filming in Venice. The production company had to suspend work on the project.

Italy’s 10-week lockdown largely limited the spread of the virus, but infections are now rising after many people took summer vacations. Health officials are attempting to test passengers at airports and seaports to try to identify imported cases before they spread.

People attending the Venice Film Festival must obey the same rules. If they arrive from outside Europe’s open-border Schengen area, they will be tested upon arrival. The Schengen area is made up of 26 European countries that have agreed to remove border controls for all citizens.

The festival will provide special seating, spaced far apart, for all movie showings. Masks will be required during all films.